Syrian Forces Attack Rebel Stronghold Near Palace [View all]

[pampango]

Source: New York Times

A large armored contingent of Syria’s elite Republican Guard stormed a western Damascus suburb near the presidential palace on Friday, residents and antigovernment activists said, bringing intense combat with insurgents unusually close to the doorstep of the embattled Syrian leadership.

Abu Mohammed, the Qudsaya resident, said that three months ago the president had sent senior Republican Guard officers to negotiate with the people of Qudsaya and Hameh, a neighboring area where fighting also flared on Friday. He said an agreement had been reached that neither security forces nor insurgents would enter the area.

“The agreement was good for both sides; there was no arresting, no killing and no shabiha,” he said, referring to pro-government militias. But recently, he said, shabiha from the president’s Alawite minority had violated the truce by killing three young men and attacking women, so residents sought protection from rebels, who began attacking government checkpoints. The government has shelled the area since Tuesday, according to residents and video posted by activists.

Antigovernment activists reported that security forces, led by 4,000 Republican Guard forces, stormed the Qudsaya area with artillery and tanks.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/06/world/middleeast/syria.html?pagewanted=all

---

The fighting detailed here is in the Damascus area in the south. The article also cites continued shelling and bombing of Homs in the center of Syria. And, of course, there is heavy fighting in Aleppo in the the north and further east near the border with Turkey.